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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28688718">rose we dont have fuckin "arcs" we are just human beings</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EtchJetty/pseuds/EtchJetty'>EtchJetty</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nihilistic_Janitor/pseuds/Nihilistic_Janitor'>Nihilistic_Janitor</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Homestuck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 07:21:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,528</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28688718</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EtchJetty/pseuds/EtchJetty, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nihilistic_Janitor/pseuds/Nihilistic_Janitor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Two conversations: one on the meteor, and one long, long after it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rose Lalonde &amp; Dave Strider</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>rose we dont have fuckin "arcs" we are just human beings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Meteor conversation written by Nihilistic Janitor, postcanon conversation written by me.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="block">
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: sup</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Hello, Dave. What brings you to Can Town on this fine evening?</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: i dunno i just needed a break from hanging out with karkat i guess</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: dude was kind of bumming me out</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: figured can town was the place to work that off</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: im pretty sure its impossible to be bummed in can town</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Was this the sort of bumming out that necessitates a peaceful period of civil planning and can stacking?</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Or the sort that is a prelude to a long-winded discussion about feelings?</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: If it's the latter, I recommend we head over to the Liv Tyler Memorial Park on the east side of town.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: We figured out how to alchemize bonsai trees, and the cherry blossoms are just starting to bloom.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: i think i just want to stack cans for a bit</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Alright. Come help me with this hospital.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: ...</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: ...</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: okay nevermind i need to use words i guess</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: do you like</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: when you talk to the trolls do you ever feel that the things that really twist you up and shit</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: are really nothing huge and you didnt have it bad or anything and should just stop fucking whining about it</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: karkat grew up in a world where if anyone found out about what color his blood was hed be killed on the spot</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: and meanwhile</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: im sitting around getting spooked by puppets</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: it feels dumb to be so torn up about something like that when this meteor is full of people with real problems</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: fuck</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: two of their friends went insane and tried to kill them all and one of those friends is still around here somewhere </span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: and im trying to get sympathy for an inescapable phobia of plush rumps</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Sympathy isn't a zero sum game.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: You can have sympathy for their situation and they can have sympathy for yours without either of you taking away from the other.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Frankly your phobia sounds entirely understandable given what you've told me of your childhood.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: but</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: its stupid</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: its not like my bro was ever trying to kill me or anything</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: A frighteningly low bar to set for a guardian.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: i mean</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: fuck</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: i dunno</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: maybe i need to think about this more</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: where does this can of beans go</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Over here, to serve as a load-bearing wall in the orthopedics wing of the Can Town Health and Unabated Learning University.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: youre calling the hospital cthulu?</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: ...</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: You know, I can't believe I didn't notice it sooner.</span>
  </p>
</div><p>---</p>
<p></p><div class="block">
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: It really wasn't fair.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: what</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: there were a lot of things weve experienced that werent fair</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: and listen i love you but not a fan of playing the rose lalonde pronoun game after three years of it</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Your phobia of puppets.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: woah what</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: are we still on that</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: its just a direct evolution of my subconscious trying to tell me to get the fuck away from my bro</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: which i could and should have listened to a million times over but hes dead now and were good right</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: You're right, he's dead.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: But you were never offended that the forces of the universe came together to give you that specific fear of those specific puppets?</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: uh</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: like beyond just having it so that i was raised by my bro?</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Yes.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Lil Cal didn't need to exist if it weren't for Lord English.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: The puppet was the host for his soul. Quite literally, from what I can piece together.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: It's not coming together for you yet, that the man prophecized to beat him was faced with his very soul in his dreams and in his apartment, twice over?</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: uh</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: that was real?</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Yes.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: The complete soul of Lord English haunted your dreams every night from a very young age.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: As well as rest in your apartment, on a shelf or wherever.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Hell, even your brother.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: what about him</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: wait</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: what the fuck are you implying</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: no</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: you dont get to do this</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Dave.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: in no way do you get the fucking right to say that my childhood abuser was part of this grand plot of the universe</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Well, technically it's not him I'm talking about.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: The iteration that raised you.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: You never wondered what happened to ARQuiusprite?</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: i have literally donated zero brain time to that fucking troll monster ever and id like to keep it that way</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: He's partially a copy of your brother.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: And he ended up inside of Lord English.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: In a way, it's almost fascinating.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Dirk's self-loathing transcended instances of our reality to the point where he spent half of your childhood training you to be able to beat and kill him.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: i never did it though</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: ive literally never seen lord english in my life</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: That's besides the point, honestly.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: From what I could tell from someone who was there, Davepeta landed the final blow, sacrificing their life.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Nepeta taking out Equius, while you took out your brother.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: It's fascinating how beautifully fucked up this all is.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: could you maybe stop doing this</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: What?</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: analysing my life like its a series of foreshadowed events and payoffs</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: i couldnt give less of a shit if we were literally characters in a story to callie like love the girl but</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: it was never a story to me</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: or an adventure</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: honestly it kinda sucked ass for most of it the only thing that made it better was getting to meet up with you and eventually john and jade</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: june and jade</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: shit sorry</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: You're fine.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: and karkat obviously</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: like hopy shit you know what</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: yeah wow its so cool that our childhood traumas actually tie into this multi universe spanning plot</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: please go inform jane that having her grandfather stuffed and displayed for wrongthink actually has delightfully morbid origins in troll military customs</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: you know what its true</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: doesn't mean it's not absolutely fucking horrific</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: wow literally every harley, egbert, crocker, or english literally had feferis evil mom or whatever the fuck directly influence the circumstances of their childhood to make it shittier</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: amazing can we give it up for skaia</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: thank you for planning all this out so meticulously</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: who would i even be without my puppet trauma</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Probably a remarkably similar person.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: rose</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Listen, Dave.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: When I was talking about those things I didn't...</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: It wasn't to imply that you were any less real or human.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Or that your experiences matter less because the universe seemed to need them to happen.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: For me, as a Light player, it sometimes makes me feel <span class="italics">better</span> to find comfort in predestination.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: That my suffering wasn't for nothing.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: That we were always fighting for a true ending.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: When I say I think you'd be a remarkably similar person I mean it.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: You are absolutely one of the most exceptional people I've ever met, Dave Strider.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Faced over and over again with impossible odds, you rise above them -- in battle, romance, or municipal planning.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: If I have a single regret in my entire existence, it's that it took me years of knowing you to realize that you were my brother.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: And I'm so, so, so proud to call you my brother, Dave.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Puppet trauma or no.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: I'm sorry that I tried to dissect your childhood thematically.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: It was wrong.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: well</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: shit</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: wind out of my sails</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: id almost say apologize to dirk for the thing about self loathing but</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: well its probably still a good thing to do but whatever</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: sorry for blowing up at you</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Sorry for giving you such a deserved avenue for you to blow up at me.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: It was completely careless.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: I've been researching our own personal histories like an archeologist.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: At times, that's literally appropriate.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: The proof of the existence of us or our enemies lies in dead civilizations, in cities long burned, in planets destroyed, and in empires crumbled.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Sometimes it's hard to remember that I'm studying real people.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: And that the real people are my closest friends and family.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: speaking of which</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: did you ever decipher that message from your past self</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: the one you don't remember sending</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: No.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: I'm not sure if she was trying to be clever with references to Harry Potter or what.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: But if there's a deeper layer there, I'm not getting it.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: "don't trust hermione"</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="dave">DAVE: wack</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Yeah.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: It's so clearly my handwriting, too.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Ah, whatever.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span class="rose">ROSE: Kanaya wanted me to ask you about....</span>
  </p>
</div>
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